The Last Unicorn is a book by Peter S. Beagle, that was turned into an animated film in 1982. The film had a wonderful soundtrack, written and performed by the band ‘America’. For some reason this past week, I was compelled to listen to the soundtrack – perhaps it was the spring weather, perhaps it was that strange, melancholy feeling of time passing and season changing – the music has many emotions tangled up in it for me.

The movie was one of my favorites as a child, but I watched it through a kid’s eyes, enamored with the magical unicorn, the bumbling wizard. As I got older, the scene with Molly Grue started to hit harder, as did the moments between Prince Lear and Lady Amalthea.

The idea of an immortal being that suddenly learns to feel regret, a creature that had just been moving through the world because attachment would be too hard for someone that lives forever…yet by the end, she has friendships and feels loved and it is both a blessing and a curse. I know none of that story is IN the song…but if you’ve seen the movie or read the book, hearing this song and knowing the story…you just feel all the emotions as you sing along.

Clearly, I am not the only person with deep feelings about this soundtrack, as the usually goofball band Ninja Sex Party did a cover of this song and the lead singer talks about how much he adores it. Something about this story stays with you.

If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, I highly recommend them. If you want to read more about the movie, I wrote a post about it back in 2013.